Perfect 10 – John Petrucci

He’s among the best players of his generation, but is the Dream Theater guitarist ready for 10 questions we ask everyone

1 What was your first guitar and when did you get it?

My first guitar was an acoustic, kind of plastic, nylon-string thing that eventually ended up breaking. I’m not sure where my parents got it, but it wasn’t very good – it wasn’t very nice to play. [laughs]

2 What’s your first guitar playing memory?

That it was really hard to play and I couldn’t even press my fingers down to play a chord. I hated it. But then when I was 12 I got the bug, and I really wanted to play.

3 When was the last time you practised, what did you play?

I last practised yesterday before the show and I practise every day. What I was doing was drills to warm up, which consist of me having a metronome on at 100, 110 and 120bpm and just going back and forth between 16th notes and eighth notes, plus some 16th note triplets and 32nd notes. We kind of do it as a band – the metronome’s going in the room and Jordan [Rudess], Mike [Mangini] and I play to it. By the time you’ve done that for an hour or so you’re really oiled up and ready to play.

4 What’s the worst thing that’s happened to you onstage?

It was on Long Island before the band was signed. We were playing a club and thought we were all cool and rockin’ out. [laughs] I thought the stage continued in front of me but it didn’t and I just stepped off it. It hurt!

5 If you could have a drink with any musician, alive or dead, who would it be?

Probably Beethoven. It’s hard for me to wrap my head around how he wrote at that level: for that many instruments and for things that were so epic. He was from a different planet. I’d love to know even just the beginnings of how you approach it.

6 If you could own one vintage guitar, what would it be?

I’m not a very vintage kind of guy, but it would have to be some sort of acoustic that was incredibly worked-in, mellow and aged. I could totally picture being in to that.

7 Beatles or Stones?

The Beatles, because the range of styles of music that they have is vast – it’s not like if you heard one song and you like it or you don’t like it that’s it. There’s so many different sides: if you like stuff that’s really poppy then great, but if you’re not into that but stuff that’s more dark or cerebral, then they have that too.

8 Is there a song or an album that has changed your life?

I remember buying Yessongs [by Yes] and just getting so into that: what they were capable of live; the way that they stretched out the songs and solos – and hearing Steve Howe doing his acoustic things. It ended up being a tremendous influence on me as a songwriter and in thinking about the basic make-up of a band: you know, you have guitar and keys and vocals and incredible drums. And that’s kind of what Dream Theater turned into, but a metal version.

9 What advice would you give your younger self?

There were certain discoveries that took me a while when I was young. Such as when I heard ‘Eruption’ I said, “There’s no way that’s a guitar” – because as a kid you’re sitting there playing some cheap acoustic and you’re like, What is that? It sounds like a spaceship! But now you say, “Yeah that’s a Phase 90 and he’s tapping” – it’s clear as day. But as a kid it’s all a mystery, so I would go back and give myself all that knowledge so I could move along quicker.

10 Is there a myth that you’d like to set straight?

That technical guys can’t have any feeling. That BS just turns me off. The whole thing to being a great musician – to my mind – is to be able to play the things that you imagine. Whatever you want to create musically you should be able to do it, which means you need to be technically able to command your instrument. If you are able to do that, that doesn’t discredit the other things that are so musical, whether it’s groove or feel or phrasing.